Most spot cleaners make you choose between cleaning with formula and rinsing with clean water — the Bissell Little Green Max Pet SmartMix does both from the same tank, and that one feature made it one of my #1 spot cleaner picks. It scored 8.8/10 and earned the Just A Dad Approved sticker, passing all four real-world tests: hair and pet, cleaning, ease of use, and maintenance. This is the Little Green Max Pet SmartMix, model 38572. Here's how it held up.
What's in the Box and First Setup
In the box: the machine, the self-cleaning Tough Stain Tool with two swappable blocks (a bristle block for everyday scrubbing and a rubber Pet Hair Removal block for embedded hair), and an 8 oz bottle of Bissell's PET PRO OXY Spot & Stain formula. It's corded with a 15-foot cord, and the hose is a little longer than the usual Little Green's. Setup is quick: lift out the SmartMix tank, fill the water side with warm tap water to the line, pour the whole formula bottle into the formula side, and click it back in. One rule to follow from day one — warm tap water only, 140°F max. Water that's too hot can warp the clean tank.
The SmartMix System and Rinse Mode
This is the whole reason it's one of my top picks. The SmartMix tank keeps the water and the concentrated formula on separate sides, and a switch picks how it sprays. Deep Clean mode mixes the formula with the water for you as it sprays — no measuring cups. Rinse mode sprays clean water only. So a stain gets the formula, and then the same spot gets a fresh-water rinse at the end of the job, without emptying the tanks and refilling them with plain water. That's the step most people skip with a regular spot cleaner, and it's what leaves soap residue behind. Here it's one flip of a switch.
Cleaning Performance: What It Actually Picks Up
Cleaning Performance scored 9/10 and Suction Power 8.5/10, and it passed my cleaning test. The routine is spray, scrub, suction: Deep Clean mode lays down the mixed solution, the bristle block works it in, and the suction pulls the mess up into the dirty tank. Then Rinse mode goes back over the spot with clean water only and suctions it up again, so there's less formula left sitting in the fibers. Bissell claims more suction than competing portable deep cleaners; in my testing the pull was strong, just a half-step behind its cleaning score.
Pet-Hair Management and Pet Messes
Long Hair Management scored 9/10 and it passed the hair and pet test. The pet-hair trick is the rubber block that swaps onto the Tough Stain Tool in place of the bristles — rubber grabs embedded hair that bristles tend to push around. It still isn't a vacuum, so vacuum up the loose hair first, then spray, scrub and suction. For accidents, it ships with PET PRO OXY formula, which Bissell makes for pet stains and urine odor.
Corded Power and Reach
Portability scored 8.5/10. It's corded, so it stays near an outlet, but that means unlimited runtime with no battery dying halfway through a couch cushion. The 15-foot cord and a hose that's a bit longer than the usual Little Green make it easier to reach the back of a stair, a car seat, or the far side of a sofa without dragging the machine along. It has a really nice small footprint and a good carry handle, and the cord and hose wrap up on the machine so it stores neatly.
Maintenance and Self-Cleaning
This is where a lot of spot cleaners get gross, and this one is built to avoid it. The hose clean is built right into the tool handle, so there's no separate rinse attachment to store or lose — rinse the hose and tool out right after the job. The dirty-water tank opens up wide enough to get a brush in and scrub it out, which is what keeps odor from building up. Everything comes apart easily for cleaning.
Ease of Use and The Learning Curve
Ease of Use & Features scored 9/10 and it passed the ease-of-use test. There isn't much of a learning curve: fill the two sides of the SmartMix tank once, pick Deep Clean or Rinse with the switch, and go. No measuring formula, no swapping tanks mid-job to rinse. The only thing to learn is swapping the bristle block for the pet-hair block, and that just clicks in and out.
What I'd Change About the Bissell Little Green Max Pet SmartMix 38572
- Bring the price down closer to the basic Little Greens — it sits at the top of the Mid-Range tier
- Make the tank hot-water safe — warm tap water only is one more thing to remember
- Offer a cordless version with the same SmartMix and Rinse mode
Little Green Max Pet SmartMix vs Little Green Max Pet vs Little Green Mini
Bissell sells a lot of Little Greens, so here's the quick sort. The Max Pet SmartMix 38572 (this one) is the one with the split water-and-formula tank, automatic mixing, and Rinse mode — it's the step up and my #1 pick. The regular Little Green Max Pet (3860) is the non-SmartMix version: easy-clean tank and a pet tool, but formula and water share one tank, so there's no clean-water rinse without dumping and refilling. It costs less and scored 8.5/10. The Little Green Mini (4075) is the Budget pick — smaller, simpler, and the cheapest way into a Little Green at 8.5/10. If the rinse feature matters, get the SmartMix; if price matters most, the Mini does the stain job for less.
Is It Worth It?
Yes — it's one of my #1 spot cleaner picks at 8.8/10. The SmartMix tank and Rinse mode solve the problem every other spot cleaner has: getting the formula back out of the carpet without a second round of dumping and refilling tanks. Add a longer hose, a built-in hose clean in the handle, a dirty tank that opens wide for scrubbing, and a small footprint, and it's the whole package. The trade-off is price — it costs a little more than the basic Little Greens, sitting at the top of the Mid-Range tier. For a home with pets, kids, or a car that sees regular messes, it's worth it, and it earned the Just A Dad Approved sticker.